Darren Espanto

In 2012, ten-year-old Espanto auditioned for the fifth season of YTV's reality television The Next Star, singing Bruno Mars' "Grenade". One of the judges, Keshia Chanté, got emotional and told him that his voice was 'unbelievable' and 'controlled'. Judge Mark Spicoluk, on the other hand, stated that he 'lacked stage presence'. Nevertheless, after Chante asked him if he was ready, she and Tara Oram said yes, earning him the 'golden ticket'.

He continued to be selected onto its Top 6, singing pop songs such as Rihanna's "Only Girl (in the World)"[13] and Maroon 5's "Payphone"[12] among others. He also had his own single and music video entitled "Gotta Give A Little Extra",[14] as well as two other singles, "Now"[15] and "Oh Oh Santa"[16] with the other five finalists. Ultimately, he lost to 14-year-old Brooklyn Roebuck, after singing his own single during the finals. He was the youngest finalist in the history of the show to be included in the Top 6.[5][17]

In 2013, Espanto had his first series as a guest in YTV's Life with Boys.[18]

During the auditions of the inaugural season of ABS-CBN's The Voice Kids that aired on June 1, 2014, Espanto performed Jessie J's "Domino", which he formerly sang during The Next Star at age 11.[4][19] Coaches Sarah Geronimo and Bamboo Mañalac both pressed their buttons for him, vocalizing that he 'can be groomed to be a recording artist, a total package'.[19][20] Although Espanto revealed that he was Mañalac's front act during one of his concerts in Canada, he still picked Geronimo stating that she could help him a lot in the music industry.[12][21]

Espanto eventually advanced to the finals after singing Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time" during the live semi-finals held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Resorts World Manila, Pasay.[21] He was the second one to receive the highest votes, after Lyca Gairanod.[22] Salonga, one of the coaches commented that Espanto is a phenomenal while his mentor Geronimo stated that he was 'a winner and a complete package'.[23] He also sang "Somebody To Love" by Justin Bieber with some back up dancers, and Star Magic artists.

In the finale, during the first round which was a power ballad theme,[3] Espanto performed Basil Valdez's song "Ngayon" where he received a standing ovation including from the three coaches.[24] Lea Salonga left a warning to older performers, saying: "To every person Darren idolized, this is a warning to all of you: this kid will outshine you someday".[Note 1] Once again, Geronimo praised him and said that despite his talent, Espanto never showed superiority and instead listened to his coach.[24] On the final round of the competition, Espanto accompanied himself with a piano during his performance of "You Are My Song" while having a duet with the original singer Martin Nievera, where received another standing ovation.[25] At the end of the competition, he once again came in second after Lyca Gairanod.[26]

In 2014, Espanto said that he will not go back to Calgary, Alberta,[27] and that he was staying in the Philippines to try acting and do a project with his coach and mentor, Sarah Geronimo.[27] In August, Espanto became a part of ABS-CBN's training and management center Star Magic.[2] On September 11, Espanto's rendition of Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time" topped the Philippine charts of Apple's iTunes store, while his rendition of Justin Bieber's "Somebody to Love" placed second.[28] He then staged his first solo concert at the Music Museum; a repeat of the concert was staged on December 19, 2014.[29] On October 25, he made his Carnegie Hall debut as the headliner at the Fourth The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York Awards, which celebrated Filipino American History Month in New York City.[30] On November 18, his rendition of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" topped the iTunes chart, while his rendition of Jessie J's "Domino" placed second, in which the two were the only local songs to be included on the top 15. And on November 29, Espanto signed a record and management deal with MCA Music Inc. (Philippines).[31] A week after, he and the other three finalists of The Voice Kids (Lyca Gairanod, Juan Karlos Labajo, and Darlene Vibares) held a concert at the Philippine International Convention Center. He also released his first solo album, "Darren", with MCA Music Inc. (Philippines).[32] It debuted at number 1 at the Philippine charts of Apple's iTunes Store upon its release on December 8.

In January 2015, Espanto performed Trina Belamide's "Tell The World of His Love" (the theme for World Youth Day 1995) during Pope Francis's visit to the Philippines.[33] On May 29, Espanto performed at the Mall of Asia Arena for his birthday concert making him the youngest performer to stage a solo concert in the said venue.[34] On November 18, Espanto was one of the singers performing at a state dinner for a delegation from Mexico.[35][36] Also in November 2015, Espanto was chosen to perform the official theme song for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting titled, "This is Only the Beginning", composed by Mr. Ryan Cayabyab.[37]

In 2016, Espanto released his sophomore album "Be With Me". The album contains 11 songs from the singer, two of which are his original compositions.[38] On July 31, 2016, Espanto opened for the Philippine leg of Selena Gomez's Revival tour.

On May 4, 2017 during his Twitter party, Espanto surprised his fans with a deluxe edition of his sophomore solo album entitled Be With Me, to be released the following day.[39] Be With Me (Deluxe Edition) contains 5 bonus tracks: "I’ll Be There" with Jed Madela, Acoustic versions of "7 Minutes" and "Alam", the viral hit, his cover of Sia's "Chandelier", and a stripped version of Young Hearts with Malaysian pop singer Nik Qistina.[40]

In 2018, Espanto made his acting debut in The Hows of Us. Espanto also became a member of the teen pop group ASAP G! Other members of the group are Isabela Vinzon, Jayda Avanzado, Ylona Garcia, Jeremy Glinoga and Kyle Echarri. The group formed on June 3, 2018 and disbanded in November 2018, when the show was reformatted into ASAP Natin 'To.

In 2019, Espanto was part of The Aces concert with fellow singers Lani Misalucha and Jonalyn Viray. The trio performed in Cebu, Davao, and Manila (at the Araneta Coliseum). Espanto and Viray, so called the Pair of Aces, also conducted a tour in Canada (Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto) in the latter part of the year. On April 12, he also appeared as the only Filipino guest performer in the grand finals of Singer 2019 in China. This was followed by the release of "A Whole New World" on May 24, wherein he and Morissette Amon collaborated to perform the rendition of the song as part of the Philippine promotion of the movie Aladdin as handpicked by Disney. On November 25, the theme song for the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit titled "Side by Side" was launched, where he participated as one of the 11 ASEAN singers representing each member country. And on November 29, he released his single "Sasagipin Kita" which he wrote himself, also under MCA Music Inc. (Philippines) where it debuted at number 1 on the Philippine charts of Apple's iTunes store on the first day of its release.

In the early part of 2020, Espanto was set to participate in the Singer 2020 competition in China, but the plan was later on cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak and related travel bans. On April 15, 2020, the United Nations Development Programme (under its Philippine office) launched Espanto as its first-ever celebrity Youth Advocate to promote its SDGs, focusing on climate action, biodiversity conservation and youth empowerment.[41] On May 24, 2020, Espanto celebrated his 19th birthday through an online benefit concert entitled "D Birthday Concert from Home". The concert was streamed live via Espanto's Facebook page and garnered around 12,000 viewers and 251,000 views. Through this event, he was able to raise P838,206.69 which was donated to his home network, ABS-CBN Pantawid ng Pag-ibig program.[42] On June 12, 2020, Espanto, in his capacity as UNDP Philippines Youth Advocate, became part of United Nations Development Programme's #Mission1Point5 climate action global campaign in coordination with The Good Co. via its social media platforms (@thegoodquote) with millions of followers worldwide.[43] On July 31, 2020, Espanto and Jayda Avanzado released a collaboration for the track revival "Sana Tayo Na" under Star Music followed by the release of the official music video on the same day.[44] On August 12, 2020, Espanto, also in his capacity as UNDP Youth Advocate, was invited as a keynote speaker for the International Youth Day Youth Forum 2020 with the theme "Building a Better Normal with the Youth", in coordination with IdeasPositive.[45] This event was streamed live via the Facebook Page of Ideas Positive and partners. On October 23, 2020, Espanto as UNDP Youth Advocate, together with Ria Atayde, hosted the UN75 anniversary celebration in the Philippines with the theme "UN75 2020 & Beyond: Shaping the Future Together", which was streamed live via the UN Philippines's FB Page. [46] On November 13, 2020, Espanto released his latest Christmas single, "Believe in Christmas", under MCA Music Inc. (Philippines). The song reached the number 1 spot of Apple's iTunes store Philippine charts just two hours after its debut. The official music video was released a week after and hit more than a 100,000 views within days after its upload on Youtube.